Vending-machine



J. W. P. BURDINE.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLlcAflon 4FILED APK. a. |911.

1 ,314 ,852. PatentedSept. 2, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

. 'NVENTOR wlTm-:ssas @Ms ATTORNEY TNB CBLUMBIA PLANOGNAPH C0.. WASHINGTON. v. C.

J. W. P. BURDINE.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ma. a. |911.

- Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET ll.

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ATTORNEY 11m "summum PLANOGHM'H co.. WASNINGTDN. D. C.

JAMES W. P. BURDINE, OF LAKE ARTHUR, LOUISIANA.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. V2, r1919.

Application mea Apr113,1917. serial Np. lsafieo.`

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, JAMES W. P. BURDINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake Arthur, in the county of Jefferson Davis and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to vending machines and is particularly concerned with devices of this character designed for vending articles or packages such as gum, chocolate, or the like, which are put up in packages.

The object of the invention is the production of an effective and efiicient mechanism to accomplish the purposes of the invention which is simple, durable, and cheap to mannfacture.

Broadly, the invention resides in the provision of a suitable container for packages or. articles having a discharge opening which is controlled by spring fingers so arranged as to permit only one article or package to be delivered at one operation of the machine; and in the provision of a suitable lever `arranged to operate the ngers and to be actuated upon the operation of a manually operated member whose motion is transmitted to the lever through the medium of a coinplaced in the machine. However, more specifically stated, the invention consists of a receptacle for containing a stack of articles or packages havingr a discharge opening at its lower end controlled by a spring finger normally extending into the opening to retain the articles in the receptacle and a spring separating nger arranged to be projected into the opening for separating the lowermost article from the remaining articles of the stack, when said retaining spring finger is` withdrawn from the opening, in order that only one article may be discharged upon one operation of the machine; and, in the provision of a rod having a flattened surface arranged between the fingers so as to retract the retaining finger and project the separating finger into the discharge opening, when operated, said rod being rotated about its axis to accomplish this operation of thefingers by a coin which is passed through a chute by a manually operated member, and said rod also being arranged to have its fiat surface acted upon by the pressure of the spring retaining finger to nor- `mally hold the rod in the path of the coin in the provision of a hand operated member such as a push rod which is normally heldin position to be operated and, when moved` to the extent of its operating movement, lies spaced from the Hactuating lever of the vendlng mechanism proper, and also resides in the provision of a coin chute which is arranged to direct a coin to the actuating lever of the vending mechanism and which coin is engageable by the manually operated` rpd, when at the extent of its operating movement, to be actuated thereby and to transmit the movement of the push rod to the lever whereby the leveris actuated and the coin permitted to drop in a. coin receptacle.

Other features of the invention will be apparent from the specific construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and finally pointed out in the appended claims. In the drawings which illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention:-

Figure 1 showsthe vending machine constructed in accordance with the inventionapplied t0 the back of a theater chair,

Fig. 2 is a topA plan view of the vending machine, 1

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially on line 3 3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 4 4 of Fig 3 to illus.- trate the vending or delivering mechanism of the machine,

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional` View taken substantially `on line of Fig. 3,'and

Fig.V 6 is a horizontal sectional View taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Like characters denote similar and like parts throughout `the specification and drawings.

According to the invention the actuating mechanism and the articles to be vended are contained and housed in the casing having one of its sides hingedly mounted so lthat the casing may be opened for the 'purpose of adjusting the parts or for refilling the ma chine, it being understood that suitable means as indicated at 2 are provided for locking the closure whereby the device is protected from tampering. In the present instance, a portion of the hinged closure of the casing is cutaway as indicated at 3 to provide a delivery opening for the machine.

n ranged therein, as shown in Fig. 3 and'` in;

Preferably, the casing lis substantially at and rectangular, the hinged side 1 providing` the frontV wall of the casing and the opposite wall being the rear wall of the casing which.

may be secured to asuitable support when in use.

The casing 1 has the actuating mechanism and other parts of the device compactly ar` such a manner that 'an efficient operation of the device may be had. V.As shown, the articles or packages are containedfin the ma chine in a stack, preferably above the de#V livery opening 3 inthe casing. .i Thestack of articles may be contained between suitable flanges or other means that will guide and direct them during the 'operation of the machine; but, in the present instance it is preferred to show aV container 4 Vwhich is vertically arranged inthe casing asshown in Fig. 3, and comprises a` back'ine'mber a which has a central longitudinalportion b thereof depressed inwardly of the container A 'sotliat said portion will lie spaced from the back wall of the casing 1, the back wall a Y being removably secured .to the rear wall of the casing by the screws or other suitablel fastening means c. ,The container 4 further comprises sideYwallsd-having inturned edges formingthe guide flanges e. As shown in the drawingsthe walls a and Z extend from l Y i the top to the bottom of the casing 1, however, the guide flanges e' terminateat a .point above they delivery opening 3 inthe casing. TheV articles karercontained in the container 4 between the wallsy a andl al and the flanges e as shown in Fig.l 4 andare prevented from being discharged from the container by vsuitable retaining means 5 which are actuated toAY release an article when" a proper operation of themachine is eliected.'

The lowermost article ofthe staclrhas one of its edges restingiipon theupper edge of the inclined guard plate 6, whilethe opposite edge of the article rests upon thelugs 5 of Y the retaining means. The guardplate Gis transversely eXtended'across the container 4 and alsoassunies aninclined position eX- tending downwardly Vfrom'the lower endsl of the flanges e inwardly toward the Vwall'a of the container, thereby cbstructingrthe *discharge opening-ofthe container4 in order Y Y that the stack offarticles may' `be protected from tampering k*which would effectl a fdischarge of the same Vfromthe opening. TheV depressed portion b of the walla of the ccn-V tainerY has the .portion thereof below the retaining lugs 5 severedfrom theimain portionv of the walla and curved lto provide a delivery chute 8 which'will receive the pack ages or articles from the discharge'opening 7 ara direct their discharge ro the delivery.' opening 3 of the casing.` `It will thus be seen that the container provided will retain a stack of articles" inthe machine ready to be Vmembers 9 andlthrough which a portion of side of thecasing. prises an actuating lever 13Ycarried-on an 1254 9 which have one end rigidly secured tothe.

outer surface of the portion Vlt will Vbe readilyseen that by. depressing the wall a' of the container as atb, a space 4is providedV between the latter and the rear "wall of the casing 1 in which are disposed the springY an actuatingV rod 10 extends. This, however, isi a matter of construction andfiiiay be' modilied if desirable. The lugs may bel of anynumber and each is carried byv ,a spring arm 9. When the machineis operated towithdraw' the lugs from'the dis- Y VVcharge opening and permit the; discharge of the article, a lug 11 which has been pro-V vided and is carried on a spring arm 12, is f projected into the ldischarge opening at "aV 9e l point above the lug 5 so as to separate the lowermost article Vof the stack from the re-.V maining articles and prevent the'latter from beingdischarged.l This operation isell'ected in the following manner. Y Anactuating rod 10 isV transversely disposed vacross the conf tainer 4 and is journaled in the sidewalls nl thereof and has a portion thereof extended through the depressed portion b of the con-` tainer sothat Ysaid portion. will lie eXter-Y 1100 nally ofthe container. This portion of the;V rod has two flattened surfaces as indicated Y at 10a in Fig.4, land Visinterwroven between the'spring arms 9 and 12, extending l. substantiallyin parallelism with 'each' other,. 105 Y so that rotation of the rod will operate upon the spring arms to causeanalternative prof 'Y iection of the lugs 5 and 11 into-the Ydis;-KAV charge opening 7. In the present instance' Y it is shown, that the-arms 91lie `overthe rod V110 10 on the outer side thereofwhile the spring arm 12 lies between the rod.10;'andrthery portionV b of the container. f The. spring arms, as before stated, lie substantially parallelV and Vin the same plane and by insertingVV 115 i the rod v1 0 therebetween. in; a manner just described, a peculiar action is obtained by"V this arrangement which' will, be presentlyv set forth. Y

i As clearly shownV in Figs.. 3 and.; 6, thell'zof.

container a is disposed at one side'of the casing 1 `in order to' giver-oom for the actuating mechanism arranged on the otherV This mechanism com-A extended vend of the-'rod'lO-l and projecting laterally therefrom. ,Aj coin chute -14 isjarlv ranged in the casing to receive a coin" `from lthe coin slot 1.5V in the upper .wall ofthe Y casing and to Vdirect the *coin into engage-L be of any apprcvedconstruction which will provide for a definite passageof the coin.

The lower end of theV chute has an opening or recess 14a into which extends the lever 13 to lie in the path of the coin and obstruct its passage throughthe chute. Thus, after the coin has been deposited in the slot 15 it will gravitate through the chute until it strikes the lever 13 where it will be temporarily lodged.

At this point, it is to be understood that the springs 9 exert greater pressure upon the flattened surfaces of the rod 10 than the spring 12 so as to hold them in a vertical position (Figs. 3 and 4). This may be accomplished by providing a greater number of the springs 9 or, by having them of greater strength than the spring 12. With the flattened surface 10a in a vertical position,'the lever 13 is held substantially transversely across the chute to obstruct the passage of the coin (Figs. 5 and 6), and the retaining lugs 5 areprojected into the discharge opening 7, by the springs 9. The spring arm l2 tends to hold the separating lug 11 normally out of the discharge opening.

Now that the coin has been deposited in the machine and lodges in the chute 14, a vendin operation of the machine may be eifecte by applyin pressure on the coin which .will move the ever 13 about its pivot out of the path of the coin. To accomplish this, a press rod 16 is positioned in the casin so as to have its lower end lie in vertical alinement with the coin and is slidably mounted in a bracket 17 secured to oneof the walls of the casing. The u per end of the press rod is extended throug the upper wall of the casing to be operated by the purchaser. A spring 18 having one end fast to the press rod and the other end bearing Y against the bracket 17 normally holds the press rod in an elevated position in order that the lower end of the rod will not obstruct the passage of the coin through the chute when the parts are in normal position. However, the distance between the lever 13 and the normal position of the lower end of the rod 16 is so calculated that when the rod is depressed its lower end will engage with the coin and press it through the chute. As the coin is passed along by the press rod, the lever 13 will be swung about its pivot and impart a partial rotary movement to the rod 10. Upon this rotary movement of the rod the flat surfaces 10u thereof will be moved out of their normal vertical position shown in Fig. "4 to cause a spreading of the spring arms 9 and 12. This spreading, as will be understood, will move the spring arms 9 outwardly and the sprin arm 12 inwardly so as to cause a withdrawa of the retaining lugs 5 from the discharge opening7 and a simultaneous insertion of the separating lug 11 inbetween the lowermost article of the stack and the adjacent one. Thelug 11 extends into the discharge opening at a point above the lugs 5 equal to the thickness of eacharticle.. As soon as thelugs 5 are entirely withdrawn, the lowermost article will be dropped by gravity. throu h the discharge opening 7 and will be passe along by the guide lates 6 and 8 to the delivery opening 3 of t e machine.

After the coin has been moved sufliciently throu h the chute to pass the lever 13, it will (Tropdnto the coin receiver 19 and as soon as pressure is relieved from the rod 16 it will return to its normal position. Also, as soon as the coin has passed the lever 13 the springs 9 exert a tension upon the flattened surface 10 of the rod 10 to return it to its normal position, thus automatically returning the lever 13 to its normal position to obstruct the path of the coin through the chute 14 and permitting the arms 9 to again project the retaining lugs 5 into the discharge opening of the container 4, and also permitting the spring arm 12 to withdraw the separating lug from the dischar e opening, whereupon the stack of artic es will settle down in the container for another vending operation of the machine.

To obtain the best results of the actuating mechanism above described, the chute 14 has the upper portion thereof above the lever 13 inclined so as to give space to the vertical press rod 16. The remaining portion of the chute 14 is referably in vertical alinement with the ro 16. The advantages of this arrangement will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

The above clearly describes the invention but many changes may be made in the specific construction thereof and in the arrangement of the different parts, since the above description and the disclosure in the accompanying drawin s are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. Therefore, various constructions and arrangements may be resorted to that include the principles of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

1. In a coin-controlled vending machine, the combination with an article receptacle, and two spring arms secured at one end to said receptacle with their bodies crossing each other and their free ends carrying lugs standing respectively above and below the lowermost article in the receptacle; of a rock shft having a flattened portion standinfr normally upright between said arms, an coin controlled means for rocking said shaft, as described.

2. In a vending machine, the combination with an article receptacle, and two spring arms secured at one end to said receptacle with their bodies crossing each otherk and meansfor moving the lever and rocking the n' theirfree ends carrying lugs- Standing reshaft, for thepurpose set forth;A 10

Speotively above and :belovv the lowermost In testimony whereof I aliix my signature 1 `article in the receptacle; *offzt rockvshaft in presence of tWo vvvitnesses.V v i haivingaJ flattened portion standing-VVbetween' i J AMES W.'P; BURDINE. Said spring armsand in normallyY upright Y Witnesses: k l f Y l Yposition; a lever projecting rigidly from PHILEBERTRAYNEY, r

Vsaid rock shaft, and nominallyY operable -G. VE. BAILLY.

Washington, D; C. f i

Y Copies of thispartent may befontained'.iiory five cents each; by Vaddresvsiing the CY mmissioixerofgratentlj v Y 

